ETHICAL ISSUES IN PSYCHOLOGY

Dr Fenja Ziegler

Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP 1

Tired of looking at the stars,

Professor Miller takes up social

psychology

The Bystander Effect

Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

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Put volunteers in a situation where someone is in distress and needs help

Number of factors influence whetherpeople help

How would you feel if you didn’t help?

Is it ethical to put you into this situation?

Landis’ Facial Expressions (1924)

Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

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Are facial expressions universal (e.g. shock, disgust)?

Paint people’s faces with lines and make them do stuff: Smell ammonia Watch porn Hand in bucket of frogs Decapitate rat (2/3 complied eventually).

1/3 Landis did himself Nothing universal (but note obedience)

Monster Bully (1939)

Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

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Do children stutter innately, or do we make them stutter?

Take some orphaned children and split into two groups: Criticise every mistake Praise for speech

Effects on children? Loss of self-worth Enduring speech problems

Ethics and Morals - Issues

Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

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Ethics (professionals) → Morals (common standards)

Cost-benefit analysis Animal experiments, developing nuclear/

chemical weapons, stem cells Psychology:

Human and other animals (care and respect) Socially sensitive (e.g. IQ testing) Exploitation of results (e.g. stress factors)

Deception, consent, protection from harm

Deception

Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

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Full information on Research Asch: full information → no research

All deception harmful? Deception or distraction? (e.g. implicit

learning) < damaging → > acceptable > important → > acceptable ? alternatives → > acceptable

Ditching Deception?

Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

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Role playing As real behaviour? Still stressful?

Debriefing Told purpose of experiment Withdraw data Leave as sane as on arrival Does not justify unethical methods Might not reduce distress

Informed Consent

Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

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Informed on: What will be required Purpose of research Your rights (confidentiality, withdrawal, etc.)

Give consent Children and learning impaired Some experiments (incl. field experiments) Retrospective; in public domain (e.g. Kitty

Genovese bystanders) Presumptive consent (from similar sample) Prior general consent Withhold data (damage done) Participants (subjects)

Protection from Harm

Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

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Physical Harm: e.g. anxiety (seizures, sweating, etc.)

Psychological Harm: Psychological safety (of pp) Confidentiality Privacy (observing in public or private

places)

Milgram’s study of Obedience

Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

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Milgram (1965) – Study of Authority: the way in which subjects are prepared to follow instructions to shock another subject

“study of memory” at Yale SSubject, AActor and EExperimenter,

Stanford Prison ExperimentZimbardo, 1973

Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

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Dispositional/ situational Guards and prisoners Power structure Terminated Behaviour change

Difficult Research Issues

Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

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Language Violence Stress Personality Drugs Conformity ???

Reading

Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

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Eysenck, M. (2005) Psychology for AS level, (3rd ed.). Chapter 7, Section 19

All lecture slides on www.fenjaziegler.org

Would you take part in…

Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

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1. Research on brand recognition of commercial products

2. Research on product safety3. Research in which you will be misled

about the purpose until afterwards4. Research involving group standards